As is known, radio frequency (RF) shields are used on PC boards. The RF shield provides shielding from electromagnetic interferences (EMI) that is generated by circuitry on the PC board as well as circuitry in surrounding areas of the circuit board. The RF shield must be composed of a conductive material and electrically coupled to a ground reference to provide adequate shielding.
Typically, RF shields are fabricated from aluminum or copper and manually placed and secured on a PC board. Metallic RF shields generally cannot be automatically placed because it is too heavy to be vacuum picked. In addition, metallic RF shields have to be hand soldered and require a substantial amount of time to heat to a temperature such that they can be reflowed soldered on to the PC board. Therefore, a need exists for an RF shield that can be vacuum picked and requires less time to heat for reflow soldering than metallic RF shields.